Hey soul sista, mind twister -FINISH

[Zodiac]

Synopsis: The conclusion of " Hey soul sista, mind twister (Zodiac)" which can be found in the archives at
http://www.mooncalfstudios.com/pathofth ... =14&t=8394

The story revolved around Loretta convincing Zodiac to go confront a major issue from her past: the three men who raped her in childhood and the local Sheriff who twisted things to get them off the hook for the crime. They travel to Georgia and Zo finds the first of the three men and kills him while Lore tracks down the other two and has them held captive, and finds an address that will lead them to where the now retired sheriff lives. Zodiac eventually finds her. Her mind in a confused state between amusement and tears as she tries to understand just what she has done. This thread picks up from that point where the two vampires meet again.)

(OOC Note From the player of Lore: I never meant to delete Lore as quick as I did, I had always meant to finish out this story line with Zo. Seeing as I deleted Lore quickly, I wanted to make amends and keep writing this story line with Zo mun. Aka... she has my full permission to post this)

Comforting someone wasn’t her strongest suit, this wasn’t simple pat on the back situation where you could mutter up a few “There, There.” And everything would be alright again. Seeing the state of her, the blood splattered witchy woman, Lore knew the transgression that had taken place already. Sometimes, just sometimes, for that nick of strength you needed to do something’s on your own. Facing the man head on, face to face, was the one thing people needed to gain the ability to move on. Deep down inside, Lore knew this was the case. In some ways Lore was already intimate in that department. The blonde bombshell wasn’t here to be the carnage queen the gypsy women expect; the gut screamed that from the moment this nefarious plan entered her twitch brain. She was the gunmen behind the chicka to make things go smoothly for Zo. This was a battle the small dark hair witch needed facing like she’d face the lying scum that was her now dead ex husband. Sure, she had people rallied behind her for the sport of killing the prick off. It’s just how things got done. This was her struggle, her strife.

Holding someone in bed after a good night’s romp, not her thing, not something she liked doing. She’d be more likely to get up and take a shower telling them they had minutes to vacate the dwelling or ditch them. That’s how her ex piece of waste, trash, had won the blackened little heart after all. She’d thought the kindred spirit shite was in effect. Yet, after the piece of trash ditched her at the first wedding and only guilt made her marry him, it was worthless. Now, this woman needed a good cuddle, good words to ease her mind and spirit. An arm wrapped around the witch woman embracing her. It would do little to shove her off until she gathered herself from the mess that had happened. She let the woman cry while Lore looked up to the sky, a half jilted smirk covered her lips. In this night, the witch biatch was getting liberated. When time struck, the sobs of the woman in her arm had nearly ceased, she looked back down at her. “Felt good fer your soul chicka? Chicken soup ain’t got nuttin on this shite and shine-ola.”

The answers where there, they were everywhere! You could fight your humanity all you wanted but down inside everyone there was a beast waiting to explode, anger so pent up that only a good murder would release it from its haven seeing as they were taught all their life it was wrong to kill, wrong to murder someone. Tonight, she would learn that drive when someone needs to break free. The line between right and wrong was a thin veil that sometimes you needed to creep over for solace. She motioned to the pieces of trash in the backseat. “I told’em I was a knocked up stripper. I was looking fer the baby daddy. Biatch do I look 20 shades of prego. Hell, I gave Burt’s name-o and when he came out I was all, you ain’t the daddeh. But played dumb biatch and said I was swipping through the wallet and found sumthin saying John. Dumbassed man dragged me right off to the asinine idiot. Once I knocked’em out and got them inside old Po Po here.”

Her hand tapped the hood of the acquired mode of transport, “Jerkoff one woke up whining and bitching. I’ve been listening to his shite for the past half hour now. Mind going and making him a mute,” With the suggestion offered, she pulled out the glint of metal from her leg strap hidden under the jeans. A deadly arsenal waiting on the thin frame. The hunting blade was a good 12 inches, sharp enough to flay and skin a fish while it still squirmed on the line. She wiggled her brows, teasing and taunting the witchy blood covered brunette with giant violet orbs. Little motions from her facial expression and nods egged her on to do what needed doing.

"Send the dickwad to hell where he belong so he could be anally regressed for his afterlife caught in a night, long time coming. If it wasn’t you, then it would be another. This way, you get ta keep something inside you knowin’ these pissants died the way they deserve instead of jacking off and having some glorious heart attack the moment they exploded in the corduroys.”

She opted for the logical conclusion for the dead weights sitting in the back seat. Or those doomed and fated to face the wrong doings of their past deeds, the kind that creep out of nowhere and let you know your place in life. The witchy woman might conceal it as some twisted version of fate or karma. Lore knew it best as the hidden law of justice keeping up their dill holes.

Part of this wasn't just for Zodiac though, it was a revelry that let Lore reflect on how much men were scum, how much getting involved in things sucked. She hadn't been the type to settle down and was happiest with her boy toy. Sure, she stabbed him a few times and got mad when he crossed over her playing the XBox, but when it came down to it, that man knew his place. She wasn't some sweetheart lover he had to wine and dine. She'd tossed that aside for some smooth talking piece of trash she should have known, was warned from her buddy Cai, about. This was mostly about Zo getting some redemption in the form of red hot liquid like they took from her, from between her thighs. But it was also closing the last chapter of her life here in Harper Rock for good. Even if she passed on being away from the city, or was trapped in the shadow realm, or made a wraith for being so far from the city that she was forced to return as one of those spirits she seen floating about town pretending to be anyone in the word. How would the fang bangers know the difference of who or what they really were. For all they did know, they were spirits trapped in another plane of existence because they left Harper Rock and were to far away from the sanctity of the shadow realm. Tonight was a step in liberating them both.

tbc

[Zodiac]

Weakness was never a thing to display. She had learned those lessons the hard way over time, but she was so confused and divided now inside. Part of her was shocked, scared, terrified. She could be cruel, but never before to the point of beating a man into a pile of broken pulp with a steel pipe. The laughing half of the mystic, however, felt like King Kong on a double snort of grade A cocaine daring the entire world to just try and stop him. Her inner balance was suddenly gone, leaving her flipping back and forth in her mind and emotions. At the touch of Lore's hand on her shoulder, Zodiac fell into the woman's embrace. The pipe clattered to the ground as she buried her face against the vampiress and fought to calm herself.

Once she felt centered again, but a teetering balance between terror and try and stop me, Lore began to speak. It was hard to follow her words at times, but the meanings were clear enough. She actually smiled at the bit about being '20 shades of preggo' but the rest of her words held darker suggestions. Angela Ferenczy could have hidden from them, and Zodiac the mystic could have dismissed them, but now she was someone else. A hybrid of sorts being rudely pushed from a womb into cold reality with something neither of her selves had before added to the mix.

She eyed the blade her friend offered and softly shook her head no. "Not yet" her mindspeak answered. Reluctantly, she pulled free form Lore's arms and approached the police car. She tore a piece of her blood stained skirt loose and used it to block her fingerprints from gracing the handle as she opened the passenger door. Part of her was still in automatic reflex. Her prints were in the system somewhere and no one, especially herself, needed this kind of attention back 'home' in Canada. She slipped onto the passenger seat and flipped on the dome light. Zodiac settled on her knees and looked at the pair of complaining men in the back. Her eyes taking in every detail as they begged, threatened, and shouted away.

It was them.

She picked up the clipboard the office used to write on and wrote in block letters for the men to read.

REMEMBER ME, BOYS?

The pair grew louder. More denials and threats as they thrashed about. Zodiac shook her head sadly. Some rapidly shrinking bit of mercy within her would have blossomed again had one of them even tried. A quick, but painful end, perhaps. She glanced at Lore, who was fuming in impatience as she looked in through the driver's side and watched. Zodiac's face turned grim as she looked at men and shouted into their thoughts while casting mindblock on them both.

"SILENCE!" The two were startled for a moment by the sounds suddenly within their minds. From the corner of her eye, she saw Lore flinch at bit as well. She left her thoughts open for her friend to hear as she smiled thinly at her new guests as they discovered they could no longer speak.

"Breaks my little gypsy heart that you don't remember me," she whispered now. "Because I remember you. Oh yes, every time I am alone, every time someone approaches me in the night I do not know, every nightmare I have and wake from, every unexplained noise in my house, oh yes- I remember."

The images exploded into their thoughts now. It was not their perspective they saw, but the silent, screaming girl's view of the situation. Every time their faces came into view they cringed as they began to remember and understand what exact kind of trouble they suddenly found themselves trapped in.

"I...........REMEMBER..........YOU!"

She then focused on the missing third member of the group and showed all of them, Lore as well, what had happened to him just a couple hours ago. The look of understanding growing even more pronounced now on their faces.

"I will remember him as well," Zodiac turned her thoughts just to Lore now. "You know where the Sheriff lives you say? Please take us there." She asked as she settled into the passenger seat.

*****

Zodiac did not blink as Lore raced through the streets. She was used to such traveling and if by some fluke there was an accident, the odds favored the vampire's surviving far more than it did their unwilling passengers in the back. She was focused now and a sense of cold calm had flowed over her during the trip. Suddenly, everything was clear to her. The horror of her actions earlier slipping slowly into a perspective that would have shocked her to the core if one had told her she would behave in such a way the night before. She was not a violent person by nature, only when needed for a real reason such as protecting the masq. Revenge was a rare thing in her experiences, at least to the levels she was exploring this night. At her feet, the length of bloody pipe sat waiting for her to claim it again.

The car slowed down in front of a small house in some combination picturesque neighborhood / trailer park hell area. Lore pointed to a house that sat quietly in the darkness. Lights could be seen inside and the sounds of a television whispered in the night from it. "Why don't you keep an eye on our friends for a bit while I go invite the Sheriff to come play with us," her mindspeak almost cold now rather than her usual happy sounding self. She exited the car and slipped into the shadows as she made her way to the door. She took the pipe with her as well.

TBC

[Zodiac]

He sat in front of the television resembling a stereotype one might see on the mindless shows the idiot box pushed out for the mindless to absorb. Baggy boxers and what some call a 'wife beater' t-shirt hung on his sweaty form. A beer in one hand as he watched the Great American Pastime in the room only lit in TVs cold light as he sat in a recliner that had seen better years.

Zodiac found it hard as she watched him through the window to make the connection. The face was the same, but older, but the rest did not match that mental image she carried in her memory. He was fatter (if that was possible) and did not resemble that larger than life figure that looked down at her that night and basically called her a liar. She almost pulled away and returned to the car. This was not the monster in her nightmares, but someone she would honestly feel sorry for normally. This was the end result of life for this one? Fat, hair gone, sitting in sticky rooms drinking beer and watching a game?

Almost, until the umpire made what the former sheriff considered the wrong call. The beer can was suddenly thrown in the direction of the TV as he finally became animated.

"What the hell is wrong with you, boy? You blind or somethin'? Speak up, idiot!" he shouted.

*flash*

"Well what is your problem, girly girl? Speak up! Cat got yer tongue?"

*flash*

Her resolve returned as the ex sheriff got up and lumbered to the kitchen to replace his beer. She glided to the front door and used her powers to slip inside. Zodiac was already wrapped in shadows, so as she stood in the living room, the old man did not notice her as he sat back down to watch the remainder of the game. Her eyes followed along the walls, pulling in details in the dim light. Awards and certificates peppered among the photos hanging about. He had made quite a name for himself in his chosen profession, but how he had managed it was a question. If she was an isolated case, then perhaps pity could raise its head in this, but the entire memory suggested to her he was quite familiar with what he had done that night. An old song that one knew how to sing note for note. How many times had he twisted things to keep his friends safe when they crossed the lines he was sworn to protect?

The man was cussing out the umpire again. She stepped softly closer to him and saw the remote laying on the TV tray next to the chair. Zodiac reached out and tapped the keys to change the channel.

"What the..." the man grabbed the remote and flipped back to the game. She grinned despite her mood and did it again. The more she poked the buttons, the more angry he became as he cursed the cable company a blue streak for their services. By accident, she managed to bring up a televangelist who was begging his television flock to take Jesus into their hearts.

"I don't give two shits about Jesus, just stay on the goddamned game!" the sheriff shouted. Once the channel was back on the ball game, he tore open the back of the remote and pulled the batteries from it.

"Too bad," her mindspeak was like a siren's call from everywhere around the man. "That was actually sound advice he was giving you."

The fat man jumped as if he were suddenly shocked. He looked around the room frantically. Zodiac stood perfectly still. The pipe held tightly against her as her shadows kept it and her from view.

"Whose there?" he shouted. "Whoever you are ya'll picked the wrong person to mess with, you hear me?" Zodiac watched him reach into the side pockets on both sides of the lounger as if taking stock something was still there. He waited, ears straining to hear a sound that suggested he was not alone for several moments before he began to relax.

"Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time your foot has finally slipped; For the day of your calamity is now, and the impending things are hastening their way to you now in eagerness." her mental voice paraphrased Deuteronomy 32:35 to fit her mood. The sheriff jumped again, now pulling a gun from one of the pockets of the chair as he stood up and clicked off the safety.

"Show yourself now or I start shooting!" he shouted. The small part of her mind that was still rational at this point in time took in the details she saw. He was unnerved, but not afraid. His stance firm and the gun hand moved about smoothly as he searched for a target. Old habits die hard, and again part of her wondered if he had ever used the skills he was showing now for the right reasons. That part of her was shouted down quickly by her emotions suddenly gone wild. If she stood beside her love, Temperance, now the allurist would be unable to deal with it all boiling off of her. Usually Zodiac described her emotions as a firestorm but now she was a nuclear reactor going into critical meltdown.

She realized at any moment her shadows would fade unless she willed them back into place again and when she felt it was happening, she reached out and yanked the gun free from the man's hand and raised the pipe so the tip was pressed against his chest. The man gasped in shock as the girl suddenly seemed to appear from thin air.

"Do not have a heart attack on me, Mister man." she warned him. "Sit down. Relax. You will live a bit longer." The sheriff obliged her, still in shock at her sudden appearance. "Remember me? Why should you. No one else has tonight, which is a shame since I remember you all."

"Who?" he managed to speak.

"Who? You and your three friends. Well, two friends now. Maybe one and a half friends if Lore is getting bored out there waiting for me." her mindspeak tittering now, making her sound insane. "You act like you have never seen a gypsy before. You remember when the gypsies came to this area before. I know you do."

"Remember the last time the gypsies was here? That was when I saw you and your friends." she continued. Her smile growing as the rush she felt earlier in the alley began to grow in her again. "Remember how you stood there all tall and proud in your uniform defending the innocence of your friends? You remember that girl? Claimed your friends raped her but you knew the truth of it all, didn't you?"

"Oh my God," he moaned as recognition exploded in his eyes.

"God? Don't drag him into this at all, round boy. Just a bit ago you said you could care two shits less."

"Listen. Please." He began as Zodiac spied his hand slowly working its way to the other pocket in the chair.

"No. The time to listen to you is trapped in the past, I'm afraid. I was no angel, but I was innocent in what you claimed happened. Why?"

"Look, we can..."

"Why?"

"Gimme just a second and..."

"WHY?!?" her mindspeak screamed as her eyes glowed. All four fangs emerged as she glared down at him. The pipe was now over her shoulder and she held it like the baseball players the man was so interested in moments ago. Her madness tittered again as she began to paraphrase Ezekiel 25:17. 'If it was good enough for Tarantino, it's good enough for us' her insanity reasoned to her.

"The path of the righteous soul is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Fat bastards who lie to save their brothers from the justice they pretend to represent. Blessed is she who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for she is truly the keeper and the finder of lost children...."

"Listen, girly-girl. Just calm down." he begged as his hand gained a couple more inches to its goal. "Let's talk about this."

"And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy me and mine. What you thought was broken was born again in a fire you will never understand, just as I will never understand the flames that are calling your name this very second in time. And you will know my name is Zodiac when I lay my vengeance upon you! Muerte, mentiroso!"

'Death to you, liar!' she shouted in Romany just as he made the final bid to grab the other gun. The pipe descended and caught him on the wrist and he screamed as he felt the bones suddenly break.

"Carpe diem!" her madness screamed as she began to rain down blow after blow. Avoiding his head in the process. She wanted to share every moment of this with the sheriff for as long as possible.

***

Outside, Lore turned to the house and smiled as the screams began.

"Now that's my chicka!" She said proudly as she glanced at the two still in the back seat and winked.

TBC

Lore was used with permission by her original player.

[Zodiac]

(Lorette's perspective)

The car pulled off the side of the road, heading down the streets toward the next town. It was a nice night, no rain pouring down on them. The rain would have washed the blood off Zodiac when she needed it but the girl needed to break slightly. It wasn’t enough to detour her from their mission but gain the advantage, gain strength from a good cry. Lore had been the one there understanding the need, the complication of the tears. They were not so much regretful but of sorrow for what had occurred, what would occur next and the reason why it needed to happen. It wasn’t just saving herself from a past but enlightening her future by not holding back, not looking over her shoulder every twist and turn.

Lorette knew all of that, knew the tears wouldn’t open the floodgate but fuel them. Tears of kindling adding to the fire, revenge wasn’t even the jist of this tonight. It was justice! These men would get what they deserved for the deeds they had done, the crimes they committed. From the expressions on their faces, it had been long over do. Their screams were silenced; she now listened to the music without having to drown out the cries and whimpering from the back seat. Odd enough was that neither argued that they didn’t really belong there, they all knew they did. It was that itch in the back of their minds that their actions would come back to haunt them. This wasn’t going to haunt them for the years it ate at Zodiac, if they kept one alive to relive tonight then it might be even more pure. She just didn’t trust that the one wouldn’t give away who had done these deeds.

Lorette didn’t trust them one bit even as they flailed about trying to get free.
The purple and black witch left her in the car with the two men. She turned giving them a sickeningly sweet grin, one that let them know she wasn’t above skinning them alive. While Zodiac was inside the sheriff’s trailer, giving him the sight of what she had gone through in her mind over and over again. Giving her a shining moment above all else, one Lore was sure she’d thought about a lot over the years. Something coming to life that she had replayed in her mind until it didn’t seem real anymore. The witch was finally making a life for herself holding back no restraints. This was her breaking free from those metaphoric chains.

Lore decided to play with the knife she’d offered the lilac queen witch, the one she refused. Lore opened the door and got out of the car, stepping on the gravel driveway the few steps toward the backseat. It was the click of the door, the door seemed to open in slow motion. One of the men tried to get out, thought he could run anywhere but the backseat. She shoved him back inside kneeling on the man. The lust in her eyes wasn't a sexual thing. Her fangs were practically dripping with drool as she cut a chunk of skin on his cheek, peeling it down over his chin. The blood oozed down his face and neck, she licked at the blood as it streamed down. “Soon, so soon.” She made the promise. “You will get exactly what you deserve.” The other man looked on in horror, unable to do anything to aide his long time good buddy from this monster touching and carving him up.

“Don’t worry, you ain't fer me. I like real men with really big ca-hones.” That made her miss her ex, the one that sat in the bathroom painting her toe nails on the counter while she looked on in awe. A private moment between her and Vincent that she tried hard not to think about for good reasons. Her own guilt of how she’d treated him reflected through those men. In the end she had gotten exactly what she had deserved with her scum bag of a husband, because she had done the exact same thing to Vincent. The difference was she’d owned up to it, like a real man should instead of trying to lying. There was never any doubt she had bigger balls then most men she knew. The thoughts in her head gave her distaste in her mouth. She climbed out of the back seat taking the bit of flesh off his cheek no longer in the mood to skin him any longer. She climbed back into the front seat, laying the skin on the dashboard not caring about the questions that would come from it. Everything Lore had undergone was nothing more than karma ***** slapping her for doing what she’d done to Vincent. She always had to remember that. Karma was a ***** and tonight Lore would be the backbone of the witchy queen of the tarot, the midnight clad gypsy Zodiac and her night of karma, the name of her this night. Karma, the witchy woman, would show these men just what he put their victims through.

Lore sat still in the car wondering if she could ever make things right by Vincent again. She took a pen out of the glove box and began to write on the skin. After the words Dear and Vincent were there on the skin, she didn’t know what else to put. She could have written she was sorry but for something like what she’d done, there was no apology that could be made. In her own words, she could have written karma slapped her giving him a good laugh over that. She stared at the words knowing nothing she could ever say would make amends for what she’d done to him. He was a genuine nice guy, not looking for the next best thing because to him she was the next best thing, the only good thing. And she’d used that to her advantage so she wasn’t alone. He hadn’t deserved what she did. She scribbled out his name like she had so many times in the past. “Sometimes, ya need ta lie in the mess ya made boys. Tanight ya shitforbrains will be givin exactly wha ya’ll deserve. Karma bitches.”

Her karma was getting the hell out of that town and living a life away from him, from them. As much as she missed her family she couldn’t face running into Vincent on the street, face to face, knowing what she’d done. Her friends hadn’t approved of him, not that they’d done the ******** either. So many tried to stop her from getting married, even she knew it was the wrong person at the altar. It wasn’t cold feet; it was the sinking pit in her stomach knowing the wrong man had been standing there. It should have been Vincent; she should have done right by him. He’d given her his all but in return she’d given him nothing. It would be better to give him nothing at this point even though as much as she hated it and wanted to deny it, there would always be feelings there for him. The one lone drop of blood fell from her eye, she wiped it away quickly knowing she never could repent because then she’d only see the hurt she caused. It wasn’t something she could handle. She was the *****, the cold hearted ***** that didn’t care, except when she did. It may as well be her in the backseat.

used and posted with permission of the player of Lorette

[Zodiac]

She was giggling again as she carefully searched the sheriffs home till she found what she wanted. In of all places, she found it in a tackle box. In a way it made sense. She opened the flat wallet and looked at the shining Sheriff badge. Probably used it to discourage conservation offices who might actually do their jobs. Part of her was disappointed that such a post was reduced to getting out of citations, but considering how the man worked his job when he had it was it any major surprise? She also found a pair of gloves that she donned to help her not leave any clues.

The wallet slipped into her skirt pocket as she returned to the living room where she could still hear the man groaning. "Oh quit being a pussy. I thought big brave men like you liked it rough." her madness snapped at his thoughts. She picked up a pair of his sandals and dropped them at his feet. One good eye focused on her as his breathing grew panicked again at the sight of her. His head leaned against the collar bone she had not broken. His arms and hands nearly useless now along with a few cracked ribs, "Now why don't you just admit you started all of this?" her mindspeak mocked him with his own words from years ago. "Speak up, girly man! Cat got yer tongue?"

"Pl..please," he managed to gasp.

"I said that too. Didn't help me one damn bit either. Put your shoes on. Would not want you to step on something sharp and hurt yourself." Zodiac pointed the pipe at the man. His own blood dripping off the end of it. "C'mon! Your fan club is waiting outside! Gonna have one big reunion tonight. We can relive our one night together. It will be fun!"

"Why?" the man asked as he slowly lifted one of his still good leg up and tried to slip his foot into place.

"Because I SAID SO!" she screamed in his thoughts, causing him to cringe as a form of pain he never felt before raced in his mind.

"Just.......finish this." he was begging now as he started on the second shoe.

"Oh, I see. Easy way out. Enough evidence to suggest someone attacked you at home and the brave former minion of the law was taken down in vengeance. A noble end indeed. Do you want to know how many times I wished your 'good ol' boys' had done the same for me?"

"I'm sorry."

She froze. The telepathic tendrils of thought she had in his mind sensed the true regret he was feeling now. Her face softened as she leaned closer and focused on his working eye.

"I can be very cruel, but there are others in this world who could tell you I am so full of understanding and mercy. Helping others where I can and trying to do what is right." her voice a hopeful whisper now. "In that, your profession and mine was very much alike. I said profession, not us. All I left as far as mercy for you is this. Get up and get walking or I will take this pipe, pick a bodily cavity, and carry you out of here like a fat fudgesicle."

****

The wreck of the man shambled out of his home with Zodiac following behind. Painfully each step he took was watched as she ghosted him-ready to catch him if he fell down. Occasionally she prodded him with the pipe as they made their way to the waiting police cruiser, where it appeared Lore was having some fun of her own. Zodiac tapped on the car to get the woman's attention and then opened the back door. One of her two remaining playmates began to move, but a hiss and a full display of her four fangs encouraged the man to stay in place. "Help your good buddy in!" she suggested as the ex sheriff began to bend down to get into the car. "Never know. He might save you like he did last time."

It was a process to get the aged fat man into the car without his arms to use to help. Zodiac wondered if she had acted in haste in breaking his arms, but madness told her it would be fine. The sheriff screamed- a lot, as they forced him in, and even more when the mystic tried to shut the door and slammed it on his foot. A final push sent the man across his two friends, causing all three to begin complaining again.

Zodiac finally got the door shut and walked back to the passenger side of the car. She climbed in and banged the cage grating that separated front and back with her pipe before looking to Lore. The twitch was back now. Sad/giggle, sad/giggle. sad/giggle.

"Someplace quiet and private, please. I have a lot of catching up to do." The girl leaned back against the seat while starting to tap the pipe against the floorboard of the car again.


TBC

[Zodiac]

(Lore's perspective)

The lithe blonde haired woman set the gears of the car into motion using the stick shift. She pulled out onto the road heading back to the same spot where they appeared but in the delirium passing through Zodiac, she might not have known that was where she was taking them. The large field was private, away from civilization and familiar to them both. Even for the few moments there, Lorette felt the calling of the bones from under the dirt mound, it just felt comfortable there.
It took some time to get to the exact location, but it was like she had a GPS built into her head. She went down streets she’d never seen before but always ended up on a connecting road or parallel to the main road, keeping her in the right direction. To the safety of the men, the back seat fell silent. It was like they were trying to silently plot out an escape route, when her eyes went to the wind shield mirror; her confirmations were made watching the lip movement but no sound permeating from them. They could plot all they wanted, not one of those men was living past this evening.

After winding road, long stretches of trees that seemed to go on for miles, she pulled off to a dirt patch on the side of rode. When the car engine cut she rolled down the windows, wiped the keys cleaned of finger prints and tossed them into the wooded area cradling them in her shirt. “Why dontcha take’em guests out to the hillside and I’ll clean up this beast!” She motioned to the car, giving Zodiac’s hand a squeeze. From the range of emotions flowing through the woman, it seemed like the right thing to do. Yeah, being all emotional and girly wasn’t her strongest suit. The door opened and Lore stepped foot on the earth. The feeling of the ground shifted as she called up some friends to help the violet witch out. Three, six then nine zombies appeared in front of them rambling around the front of the vehicle. The men in the backseat howled at the sight of them appearing like that, the shadows danced on their skulled faces making them look more fierce. “I dug’em up from hell just fer ya boys, now don’tcha be getting with any of yer idears there!” She winked at Zodiac knowing the zombies would only attack when they got near but the men didn’t know the disadvantages, it was time the men soiled themselves since it had been a while. Now all three men were wide awake and fully attentive to the women and zombies alike. Even in their obvious terror, she smiled. It was great to see to watch the fear in their eyes.

It was going full circle; they were where they were supposed to be. Right where they were started the evening as the plan became hatched into action. The field beyond the trees was just ahead. It was hidden enough the screams of the men would be music to their ears. The night was half over, but it was just beginning. Even though one of the men was already gone, there was still plenty of them that would prove entertaining. Let the games begin…

used and posted with permission of the player of Lorette

[Zodiac]

The appearance of the zombies hardly phased the mystic. She too had learned to do such a trick in the due course of time. Her eyes ignored the frightened men and surveyed the land they now stood in. This was where they had arrived.

This was the place it had all started years ago.

Her nose wrinkled in disgust as she smelled a new aroma in the air. The good ol boy crew was having bowel problems thanks to Lore's zombie glee club appearance. The ring of zombies separated the men from the patrol car. The two surviving rapists were helping steady the ex sheriff on his feet as Lorette began cleaning the car for traces of them.

"Aw, c'mon!" her mindspeak echoed in the men's minds. "You telling me big macho he men like yourselves are scared of some walking dead people? Tell you what. First one of you who can get past them without a scratch and get back in the car? You all can go home."

The gypsy had to reign in the aspect of madness in her thoughts to keep from laughing as the fools actually debated it. She didn't know there names, nor did she want to, but one of them helped the injured law man back a few steps as the other took the challenge. He charged the zombies and actually managed to get his hand on the door release before three of them attacked. To his credit, the fool shrugged off the punches two of them gave him for his trouble, but the third reverted to type when it caught scent of the blood coming from the love cut Lore had given him while she waited. It's teeth bit deeply into the man's arm and tore loose a sizeable hunk of flesh. The man fell backwards onto the ground as he gripped his arm. Eyes bulging as he watched Lore's pet chew away at what seconds ago had been part of him.

"Nice try!" Zodiac giggled. "Next?" She glared at the other two. Seeing she had no takers, she walked to where the one had fallen and poked him with the pipe she was carrying. "Get up! I know what you are thinking. 'Oh me gawd! I gonna turn into one of them like in a Romero movie.' Get moving! You got bigger problems to worry about right now."

"That way!" she pointed with the blood caked pipe to the small rise that hid the field where the camp had been set that night when she first made their acquaintance. The group hesitated, so she extended her free hand and grinned like a demon as it bursted into flames. The closer she got to them, the more the fire seemed to reach out to the men, as if it was hungry for them. "MOVE!"

Slowly, the trio made their way up the small hill. Zodiac did not need to read their minds to know what they were thinking. This was their death march unless they did something quickly and their best chance was when they would be alone with the girl. "Come over the hill carefully when you do, doll." she sent a message to Lore. She followed the men and feigned indifference till they reached the bottom of the hill. That's when the two Lorette had caught spun around and charged. Part of her could not blame them. If the roles were reversed, she probably would have done the same. A last '**** you!' desperation move.

"No boys, **** you." she whispered into their thoughts as she spread her arms and used her powers. The men stopped and stood gaping at the sudden appearance of the fadebeast behind their target. It roared and raged as its hands reached for them. Now they knew what they were dealing with. A witch who could summon demons if needed. Demons who dared not lay a hand on her but would rip them to shreds if allowed to. Another mental giggle of madness. As long as Zodiac stayed where she stood, the incredibly stupid monster would not lay a hand on her simply because it did not even know she was there. Once she moved and tried to approach it again would be a different story, but they did not know that.

"Time to make you boys comfortable. Sit a spell. Relax!" She pulled her gun from her pocket and took aim. Several shots caused the two to fall to the ground in agony as the bullets hit their legs. Calmly she approached and aimed point blank and damaged a knee on each of them. She ignored the sheriff. As bad as his arms, ribs and shoulder was, he could not move more than a snail's pace so running away was out of the question for him. She looked at the man and grinned. "The Judge gets to watch his innocent friends pay first."

"What do you think I should do, big guy?" she aimed a thought at the fadebeast. It grew louder now that it sensed the presence of a vampire near, but the rules of being summoned held it in place. "Really? All of that? And you want to help? Such a sweetheart you are." She looked back to her 'guests'.

"What's that?" she cocked an ear dramatically. "Why me? Why am I here? What did I do? Oh please, let me go. Not that-no!" The knife Lore had given her appeared in one hand while the pipe once more occupied her gun hand. She began pouring images into their minds of her encounter with them before. "SOUND FAMILIAR?"

The men were begging and crying now, and even the sheriff (who had not laid a hand on her that night, but used his authority to allow these two and their now dead friend to walk away from their crime) cringed as he saw things from her perspectives. Again, she paused. Part of her, the part that was happy to hide in her apartment far to the North was screaming at her now. This was not her. Karma burdens and other points that normally weighed so heavy in her normal dealings announced themselves.

"Once, I had so much mercy to give," her voice softened and for a moment, the three men listened to the child of 16 years finally given a voice. "It fell from my heart like rain. But people robbed me of that to the point now my heart is filled with cold winds and bitter ashes. People like you." She shrugged as if accepting a heavy weight upon her shoulders and then knelt down next to one of the men. Lore's knife moved with a blurr, slicing away clothing without damaging the skin. Zodiac let go of her pipe and grabbed the man's organ and sac and pulled it tight. The blade flashed again and before her victim could begin to scream her palm was pressed against the gushing wound. The fire returned and burned the man's flesh as he screamed in pain.

"Mercy would have allowed you to bleed out and die of shock." The mystic dropped the now useless bit of flesh onto the man's chest. "But Mercy left town and left me in charge, and we have so much to discuss and reminisce about, now don't we?" she was smiling again. Madness howled with delight inside of her mind as she began to work.

[Zodiac]

(Lorette's perspective)

The keys to the car were long lost in the woods, but she set to work wiping down everything in the car getting rid of finger prints that might be left behind. Since she had gotten tired of using the edge of her shirt, she just took it off and used the entire shirt. Humility aside, there was no one around to see her semi naked form working on the car. She really got into it, the door handles where they opened and closed the doors, the knob to the radio and steering wheel. She even went over the areas where Zo had been shoving the guy into the car. There was no where she didn’t run over with the rag to get the entire car wiped clean. After finishing detailing the car with a tee shirt like a professional, she shook out the shirt and pulled it back over her head.

The sound of screaming was like music to her ears, the blood filled the air before she came up peeking through the trees. As she walked, she texted the wicked wicked witchy woman goddess. There wasn’t a moment to spare. She was in vast need of entertainment from the boredom of cleaning. Though, with as well as she did the inside and outside of the vehicle leaving only the smearing of blood behind from the men, she was confident no one would pin this escapade on these two women. Besides, when the cop in the office did wake up, and figured out what she had done, they would be long gone from this place in the States and back into Canada. Who would be able to believe they had done it when Lorette had stopped by an atm earlier that evening. Banks use the atm, to take pictures of the guest using it. She had made sure it would be a clear picture before heading to Zodiac’s. A security measure she’d taken before hand. Reflecting now, as she walked into the scene where the demon stood behind Zodiac before the men in all its glory. She wanted to kill the beast immediately. Something for her to play with while Zodiac played with the men. Though she couldn’t hear the words being spoken by Zodiac, the fear emanating from the men’s’ eye holes was enough to know exactly what she was saying to them.

Her foot sank into the blood soaked ground. For shits and giggles, Lore hacked at one of the zombies she had created. Bits and pieces flung about her as she was getting soaked by the oozing decaying blood seeping onto her skin. She didn’t need to put on the spectacle as she had but they were trying to give the men a little fear before doing away with them. Even in their immense fear of this night as they prepared themselves to die, it would be nothing compared to the fear they left imbedded in Zodiac for so many years. Confrontation was going to be the only way to sate this inner demon Zodiac carried inside her. In a way, Lorette was a saint to help this woman a long in this deed, the sainthood of burdened women. Yeah, that was her. “Yo chicka witchy Ladies, ya *** looks hot when it’s all wiggling and strutting like that.” She tossed in to make the smile Zodiac wore a real one slipped in. Even though Lore was straight, even though Lore had still favored one man above the rest of them. One that stuck out, it wasn’t like she couldn’t give Zodiac a little encouragement and make her feel down right sexy as she offed these guys who had done her wrong from the rip young age she’d been. Zodiac seemed to have a way about her, even the heartless ***** Lore was… somehow Zodiac got through. Enough that her heart had said yeah, let’s do this thing.

Of course Lorette didn’t need much motive to kill someone. She thought back to the early nights, right after she was turned. How she spent so much time at a friends house, with his daughter in the next room. The zombie who was still mostly alive, missing pieces, took that moment of distraction and lunged for her knocking her on her back half. She flipped him over using the momentum of them falling to land on top of him. He tried to bite her, tried his hardest to grab at whatever he could to rip her to pieces but in the end, her blade ran across his throat leaving his head to lull back like a pez dispenser.

used and posted with permission of the player of Lorette

[Zodiac]

Lore's cat calling made her smile despite the situation at hand. She looked over her shoulder at the girl and winked while giving her hips a shake.

She stood up and went to where the second of her remaining attackers laid on the ground. Zodiac grabbed the leg with the gunshot damage and yanked hard, causing the man to cry out in pain as she dragged him next to the other. The knife darted about like a sharp hummingbird as she stripped away the cloth. When a brave hand tried to stop her, she relived it of several fingers and continued. Once again she found the objects of the man's self delusion of superiority and sliced them away. Burning his flesh to keep him from bleeding out. The mystic grabbed them both by the hair and forced them to look at her.

"Now, I suppose you good ol' boys are wondering what could be worse than loosing the twins and the pole right about now. Let me show you."

She picked up the remains of their manhoods and threw them in the direction of the fadebeast. The creature snatched up the useless bits of flesh and devoured them, then roared as if eager for more. Her eyes focused on Lorette again. "If you want to have fun with the beast there, be my guest. It has served its purpose."

Years of self doubt and torment began to pour from her with every twist of the knife. Something guided her hands now and she did not resist. Flesh was peeled and muscles severed and fat sliced with the patience and care of a master butcher. Every cut and slice falling short of a fatal wound. Some inner echo warning her if she began to dive too deeply into the helpless forms screaming and begging her to stop. Occasionally she would whisper to them in a soft and soothing tone to calm them, only to send them into pain again. She fed upon them as well to replenish herself when she paused to summon spirits to herself. The spectacle adding another layer to the madness she was dragging them both to ever so slowly. It had quit being a question of if they would survive and had turned into a question of when would they escape into death.

Their fingers offended her, so she removed them. From one she pocketed a ring whose appearance and the condition of the finger that wore it suggested it had been part of them for a very long time. Toes also joined the pile as well as their nipples. "Why do men even have these?" Madness tittered in their thoughts as she sliced them free. Layers of flesh as well began to be removed. Exposing nerves that were never meant to be in such a state of vulnerability. A soft puff of air from her lips upon them feeling more like acid rather than comfort. When their teeth annoyed her, the pommel of the knife helped remove them. Hair and ears soon followed. What sense was their ears if her words found their thoughts instead she reasoned. The tip of the blade raped then expanded their nostrils and then finally removed them. She left them each an eye but removed the brows and their lips and then finally their tongues. From the second man, a pair of dog tags was snatched from his neck. She added them to the contents of her pocket.

"Now its time to read your futures." The knife began to slice into the flesh of their bellies going downwards. "Reading entrails is a dying art form." she purred while gently encouraging their intestines to slip free. She poisoned them both, adding another layer of pain to their already agonizing state. She looked down at them again. The gypsy girl now resembling a blood soaked ghoul in their remaining sight.

"You want to die now, don't you?" her voice in their minds a whisper of hope, causing them to nod as best they could. "I know. I do, I really do. So did I when the three of you were done with me. I managed to survive and get better, so cowboy up, fuckers."

The two men tried to move and beg her, but Zodiac stood up and turned her attentions to the sheriff now. He had managed to sit down and was trying not to watch what was happening to his friends. Tears were rolling down his cheeks as he heard the girl drawing closer now. "I am so sorry," he blubbered over and over again.

A blood slick hand found his cheek and caressed him gently, drawing his eyes up to look at her face.

"Do you know why I saved you for last?" she asked him softly as she spread her arms and summoned more spirits for her to feed upon. She could see his thoughts clearly. No one ever believed the bit of 'gypsy trash' his three friends had enjoyed would ever be in a spot to demand justice. He owed his buddies a favor and filled his debt that night when they had their way with Angela. Now the girl was gone and in her place was a force to be feared.

"No," he finally answered. "I fucked up. I admit it. If I could change things, I would."

The gypsy caressed his cheek again as she weighed his words. "I think you honestly would. I do. You are still going to die, but thank you for that much."

The man nodded once and regained what shreds of pride he could. "So why me last?" Zodiac knelt on the ground in front of him. With his arms broken, the most he could do was to kick her to try and fend her off.

"All of this has made me quite.........hungry," she opened her mouth and let her fangs emerge from her upper and lower jaws. "And you have plenty of what I need right now."

"I'm sorry," the former sheriff closed his eyes.

"I know you are. Seriously, I know." A final caress of his cheek before she lurched forward and sank her fangs deeply into the big man's throat.


TBC

[Zodiac]

(Lorette's perspective)

A toe, finger, scat pieces of flesh all consumed a pile that vastly grew with each man. The look of complete and utter horror drowns their facial features. A twisted grin sat on Lore’s face as she looked down on the purple sorcerer woman fed on the overweight sheriff ignoring the two men. It was their minds crossing over their faces, a fate worse than death. They dreaded being left in this state. Lorette went over whispering, they weren't done. Death was far too bitter sweet for what they had in store for them. She whispered words trying to sound so kind even though her amusement was to its breaking point. She gave a cackle in the man’s ear, his weeping just added to her joy. ‘We are going to mutilate your faces but leave the eyes and ears intact. When you see the look of disgust on every face that sees yours, when you hear the cries for mercy just from someone seeing you, from knowing what you have become. That is justice for what you have done to all those women. Forcing yourself onto them, forcing the poor dear sheriff to cover your tracks while you played the big man. From what I seen you weren't even that big of a man. I've had much better, much bigger. Hell even my dog had a bigger ****.’ It was a variation of her words but the meaning behind it was all the same. From the corner of the guys’ eyes a steady stream of tears ran. Quiet sobs and sniffing had taken over the wails of pain with them facing the horror that would become their lives. It was readable on their faces, contoured features. They would be living walking nightmare and have to live through it every day of the rest of their lives. She had to hand it to Bert, he wasn't begging for death yet. His long time buddy however, was pleading and praying for a swift death. Bert was being stubborn, accepting the fate with glossed over eyes. Was that the same glossed over look Zodiac had when they did that to her. Lorette’s nail pierced the face creating what might be described as gills for the cheeks along Bert’s face. The pain wasn't anything like what Zodiac had put him through, this was almost bare able with gritted teeth and small grunts. It was when his nose joined the pile did he really let out a cry. His friend howled louder thinking the same fate would be his to meet and greet. Instead Lore got up and walked away, the damage had been done. Bert was choking the blood gasping for a breath as the blood flowed down his throat from his nose. Yet, through his mouth he could still wheeze in air, exhale it out what was left of his nose blowing the mucus and blood over the carcass of his face.

She had done what she would to the men, mentally broke them down on top of the physical and mental abuse the enchantress had given them. Now their pleas were out of desperation, not to live but to die, to become corpses. Lore had promised to play with their dead bodies, turn them into living zombies in their death. This had only added to the anguish felt by the men. Lorette stood looking at the fade beast, the evil grotesque monster who longed for the pile of men pieces that lay on the ground. It was almost cute in its yearning for it. It didn't stop there, seeing the men lying on the ground so close and yet far from death and wanted them too. She had to distract the demon before it lunged out and took that last moment from Zodiac. With a knife in hand she walked straight up to the beast, even as she neared it tried to reach out and strike her. He arm threw up a block but cracked in several places in the radius. She didn't cry out in pain as the men had but there was a grunt as she drop kicked the beast backwards away from them. Sure, he put up a great fight! Arms and legs flung about, at one point Lorette had been thrown into the trees, the branch plunged through her chest and she’d looked down then to the demon. It looked like he had a half cocked grin on his face thinking he was winning when Lore concentrated and made him stiff with rigor moritis giving her enough time to climb down off the tree that made a hole in her chest. She’d have been very put off if that was permanent. As she approached the beast again, cutting deep as the 12 inch blade would go in repeated thrusts in various spots, the spell wore off him. He lunged for her throwing her back to the ground landing on top of her. The weight of the beast cause all the air she used for speaking to wheeze out of the closing wound of her chest splattering him with droplets of blood. The knife sunk into his head with a final thrust breaking through the thick skulls of the beast. He went still above her. It took some effort rocking the fade beast off of her; she was now covered in whatever made up of their blood. It didn't take but a second to heal the wounds she had. A lick of her lips and she was at full blood. It was then she called upon the spirits of the land, rousing them from their slumber. The ghostly apparitions appeared as Lore drained their essences into her. She looked at the violet enchantress leaving a few floating spirits for her nearby. Before she made way back to the spot she’d been in by the one lone zombie left standing there looking lost, she healed herself one last time.

Lorette took up her spot looking down on the scene. A monster dead not far away, two men lying there grasping a small string between life and death, Zodiac feeding on the sheriff till he passed on to another world and this one lone zombie looking around like a little lost child, she withdrew the knife and plunged it into the throat of the zombie, showing more compassion for this creature then the two laying on the ground. It was that exact look in their eyes that let them know where they ranked in her book of life and death. They were beneath even the ‘monsters’ that she created. They were less than nothing because when she looked at them, there was no compassion for their pathetic lives at all.

used and posted with permission of the player of Lorette